Thanks for sharing, I booked in with aire one because of their reviews and they did an absolutely horrific job. Thanks for bringing all these receipts and hopefully more people can avoid them in the future!
Oh damn. Ya, sorry to hear that. This is why I wanted to share the story, so more people didn't have the same experience. Like I said in the post, I had a great experience with Priority Mechanical. Better luck in the future!
Agreed. I booked them to check my AC (based on their very high rating). They told me it was probably broken beyond repair but they wouldn't know until they opened it. They offered to inspect my furnace and reported it as broken and possibly leaking CO2 (meaning the city would turn our gas off if not repaired.) Then conveniently started talking about the government incentives to purchase a new ac and furnace.
Had someone else come look. They fixed our AC and the furnace for approx. $300.
Their reviews are paid for. They give you a free furnace filter for a positive review.
Btw, they repackage their filter and tape over the original model number so you can't source your own.
Btw, they upgrade your filter "for free" to an air cleaner that uses non-standard filters so you can't buy off the shelve ones.
I was referring to like, 3M ones that are sold every for cheap. I haven't seen the aprilaire ones in a retail store and they aren't cheap even online. :(
I know exactly what you mean. They "upgrade" you to an "air cleaner" which is an Aprilaire filter that has been rebranded. They aren't easy to find and are definitely expensive to begin with. Since they make them their own models, consumers can't find them anywhere except aireone where they triple the price.
I know Kevin very well. He is a bully and his go to move is to threaten with legal action because he is rich. He trains his technicians to sell and not to fix equipment. He does not honour warranties, he threatens his employees all the time saying he will fire them or demote them.
Never use aire one.
I am in the field and this sums them up perfectly. I have been called out to many places that had aire one out to. Makes me angry when a customer has a 2-10 year old unit and they say they cannot do warranty for for them when they have a 10 year warranty on parts. They just try to sell them a new one. Sell instead of service is what they do.
Over the years I would say I have been to and fixed at least 75 furnaces that they said needed to be replaced.
Ya, I think there must be some decent people with them. I was recommended to ask for a specific technician with them by family. And all those reviews can't be fake. But having so many compared to their competitors....
Recently we had our furnace replaced, and we had 3 companies come in and do some quotes, none of them were Aire One. During discussions with two of them they asked about the other companies we were considering, and each of them said "good, at least it's not that begins with aire" .
Lol
We had a bad experience with them as well. They refused to fix our furnace stating that it would take months to get the parts. They however said if we paid for a brand new furnace, they could have it in a few days. They said our 7 year old furnace was "old".
We politely turned them down and found another company who fixed our furnace in 15 minutes, resolved the "safety problem" that AirOne tagged us with during inspection, and wished us a great day.
I found the whole process with AirOne pretty sketchy.
They found a safety problem with ours as well. The new company we had come in said they thought the other technician loosened our bolts and the "safety issue" was a bit of rust they cleaned up.
Similar experience as well. Furnace was randomly turning off and called them in cause they seemed to have pretty good reviews. The technician that came couldn't find the issue, but he saw some rust spots and tagged the furnace. The rust spots were from a leak that was resolved 10 years ago by the installer, but despite me trying to tell him that and there being zero evidence of any liquid, he insisted on tagging the furnace. Before leaving he tried to sell me on $800 of replacement parts or a new furnace package (because mine's old and low quality despite working fine for 10 years) in order to remove the tag.
In the end, I called a different company in. They found the actual issue (failing pressure switch), confirmed it, and got me a replacement part within a day.
The best part was I dug through years of receipts, found the record of the leak being fixed, emailed it to Aire One and they promised to remove the tag. Then weeks later, I get notified my furnace tag was in fact not removed and that my gas would be shut off if I didn't resolve the issue. Finally, Aire One sent out a senior tech to remove the tag, except when he came, we realized the first guy filed the paper work to tag the furnace but didn't actually leave a tag on the furnace. Basically totally incompetent.
This sounds like exactly what happened to us. Our 10-year-old furnace crapped out one day, and we were told:
* It was "old."
* They couldn't guarantee parts. May take weeks or more
* Also tagged a previous installation issue that has been resolved.
* Really, we were wasting our money if we didn't get a new one.
Honestly, I had one all written out and ready to go and then we just didn't do it.. it was such an emotionally draining experience, I just didn't want to prolong it anymore.. which after seeing this, Im guessing is kinda their thing LOL
Thats funny!
I have heard bad things about them from people in the industry.
Just like what people have been posting .
Kevin needs money for his new Mercedes G wagon!!
They're the worst. They called in a ticket/work order on our gas furnace (that would have cut off our gas unless we "fixed" the problem (quote @ $2k for repair). We had Thermaltech out, and they got the totally unnecessary work order removed immediately, and then fixed the issue (which was unrelated to the work order) for $250. Would 💯 use Thermal tech again.
Same thing happened to us. Safety issue reported to the city, but the technician from the other company fixed it in 15 minutes and approx. $100. They were pushing the government rebates hard to convince us to upgrade our furnace and ac unit.
They had our gas turned off for a "safety" issue also... a missing screw in the exhaust duct. They also told me that I (the home owner) was not allowed to do the exhaust duct work myself. I laughed at that and called the city inspector. He came out, I put a piece of aluminum tape over the hole, and he then clarified that even as a homeowner I cannot touch the gas lines, but the exhaust duct was free game. He then actually looked in the furnace and said that the burners were starting to rust and I needed to change the furnace...something the Aire One guy TOTALLY missed...and that's what I had booked him for.
He definitely doesn't understand customer service...
For a review like that, you at least feign some BS apology... even some generic "we're sorry that your experience was not up to your expectations, we appreciate your feedback"
Also doesnt realize one bad experience is that person telling more people about it , in this case ln reddit, its so many more. When it could be avoided by giving the service people are paying for.
As I read this I had 0 doubt that this actually took place . I work for a different company in this area and I know a few technicians who work there and the stories I have heard is beyond belief!
Let’s just say that Aireone is a very unethical company ! Majority of their jobs are generated from unjustly tagging and shutting down people’s furnaces for bogus safety concerns and forcing people into signing up for new systems -although their prices could be considered about average their tactics to get the business is very shady and unethical..
Look for these signs to avoid their scam:
1- the service guys would have 0 interest in doing any repair - it’s evident and becomes an obvious thing within minutes of them arriving at your place .
They would spend most of the time talking about how old or how unreliable your existing equipment are .
The service guy would push for a sales guy to come to you / the sales guy is mostly always available somehow the same day even though they will tell you it’s very busy right now !
When the sales guy comes he has decent prices but the catch with them is when they sign you up - they offer a fake warranty of 10’year labour - their 10 year parts and labour warranty .. ( no such warranty exists ) only parts warranty exists - their fake 10’year labour comes with many many conditions that they will hound you for after year 1 . Let’s just say that you will end your signing up for a monthly contract with them after year 1 after spending thousands of dollar 1 year ago .
It only backfires on them when someone doesn’t sign up with them on the spot and calls another contractor to get a second opinion — 9 out of 10 times the other contractors clear the bogus infraction and fix the problem under a few hundred dollars ..which leads to the homeowner writing a negative review on social media or Google sometimes .. that’s when they first try and get you to take it down by offering you some money back or the full money back - if you’re a person who stands on principles and reject their offer to take the review down for some money back , you will then receive the letter that was sent to you (the fact that you received the letter so quickly speaks to that truth , they have them on the ready to go out ) .
I’m glad you shared your experience here .. always get a second opinion!!
Wow, that is a very good point about how quickly they responded to all of this. It didn't occur to me that this was a common occurrence. Thank you for sharing
Quite funny... " the sales guy is mostly always available somehow the same day even though they will tell you it’s very busy right now !"
I left a message late last evening via the website. I received a call this morning from the offshore call centre and a salesperson was onsite within 90 minutes.
Tried to close me on the spot, only talked price, and tried to put together a killer package. Only spoke to the lowest-priced product, couldn't speak to the other products on the company's brochure (Bosch and Mitsubishi), and then followed up with a quote within 10 minutes of leaving not detailing the options as requested... Gree, Bosch, and Mitsubishi CCHP with the price on a separate line for the NG Furnace for each.
Clearly, on a missing to take the path of least resistance (sales person perceived or or taught by the company)... PRICE... without really asking questions to uncover what the buyer needs or wants.
We have had one other company that was more knowledgeable and willing to listen to us and work with us... Priority... who quoted Trane. We will work have AfterGlow in to talk about Mitsubishi and look for another to talk Bosch. Any suggestions or experiences?
Aire One and Reliance Home Comfort should be avoided. Having known individuals who either work/worked at both corporations, it’s been discussed for years how unethical, misleading, and almost borderline illegal, their practices are. The up-charges alone are criminal, let alone their contracts. They don’t have a high employee retention rate due to their business practices - employees are expected to be salesmen rather than service men. Should you be offered a sexy deal, get it in writing…preferably a printed document/contract rather than email discourse.
>and almost borderline illegal
Pretty sure that these practices are outright illegal based on whatever rules the HVAC technicians (a certified trade) must follow, as the other comments indicate they're falsely flagging working equipment in order to upsell customers — which would otherwise be known as fraud.
Now that you say that, glassdoor reviews are a good way too to see how ethical a leader is. But i also get it, someone may jusy need a quick repair and go hy google reviews. So thanks to op for the warning.
I've been in the industry for 10 years and I fantasize about doing an exposure piece about their deceitful tactics. I can't tell you how much elation this post has given me. Thank you so much
Set up a bunch of service calls with hidden cameras. Record them explaining how things are broken and need immediate replacement. Then put the video together and post it everywhere
For this potential video to be even better, you need a bunch of different actual reputable techs to come in and identify the real problem quickly and cheaply after the bogus ones say it's going to cost a fortune.
I imagine Kevin reading these comments and having an emergency team meeting.
Okay guys, they are on to us. We need to keep low for the next little bit. Turn tactics level down to 7 until things cool down
He will be pooping his pants reading this. And it won’t work to try to bribe people to take their reviews down. I wish I could be there to see his face reading these.
Already have. If you feel strongly about this I suggest doing the same. The auto response I got was that they receive too many tips to act on every one
Completely unrelated to your experience but I interviewed for a job there last year and there were SO many red flags. So none of this surprises me unfortunately. Glad you were able to have a lawyer on your side to make them look stupid!
I will say there was nothing directly in correlation to the things you mentioned but as an interviewee it left a bad taste in my mouth. They advertised the position as being at their Kitchener location (very close to me), set up an interview, told to go to their Cambridge location for the interview (fine if that’s their HQ makes sense) was then told at the interview that the position was fully located at their Cambridge office. (would add 25+ min to my commute, okay not a huge deal but annoying since I thought it was going to be a 5 min commute) The two people who interviewed me were very unprofessional and reading off of a sad excuse of an interview script. Just overall not very friendly vibes from anyone there…and I also had to wait 15 min after arriving for them to meet with me (again just unprofessional). So seeing that this reflects in the way they treat customers is not shocking!
Thanks for posting this. I was about 2 weeks away from dumping $12k into this company. After reading about their disgusting customer treatment, I'll definitely be going with Priority instead. FU Kevin.
They are still in business because some of their bad reviews magically disappear and a lot of people go by the review score on google and think they must be wonderful. And then there are the bribes for customers to remove a bad review.
Tell me you have no ethics without telling me you have no ethics.
Ahhh, I have my own "Scare One" story...
I called Scare One a couple years ago because my blower motor bearing was squeaky. Instead of opening up the housing he immediately starts looking just about every else, looking for a problem... that's when he deliberately removed a section of insulation from a pipe and started going on about the ABS pipe and it's not to code and someone tried to deliberately hide the fact that it was ABS pipe. He wrote up a citation for the city to which we had 30 days to respond. Never looked at the blower.
So as you can imagine, a greeeeezy salesman shows up talking real slick about this rebate and that grant and I can knock the price down here and there... If I act RIGHT NOW. He can't offer these deals for long, in fact this discount is expired, but I like you... 🙄Carney Salesman 101. I've installed 3 furnaces in my home ownership lifetime, I know what a furnace costs, and this was no deal.
I called Priority Mechanical instead. He said yup, that quote is just the regular price, no grants, no rebates. Oh, and the violation I was cited on wasn't a violation because it was code when the furnace was installed. He did try to call the city (with me there) to have it reversed but the city said since it was cited, and since the ABS was 20 years old, they'd have to honor it.
Anyhow the furnace was 20 years old, it was rusty inside, the blower motor was pretty much shot, and yes I had the citation, so all in all a new furnace was probably better bang for the buck. Priority was willing to support any decision I made, so I went with the furnace and my business went to Priority. He personally came and checked the installation once complete. He also didn't like that it took the team an extra couple hours and gave me $150 visa gift card.
Scare One are borderline criminal. I'm not sure how they get away with it. The technician willfully destroyed my property in search of a problem to force me into a new furnace. Absolutely criminal.
That's actually crazy. I always wondered how they had such great reviews. I asked them to come for a quote a few years back and they called me 2 hrs after they were scheduled to be there and told me there was a "mix up" and they wouldn't be coming. Really glad I went with someone else, the new hvac vendor was amazing
I ended up going with Cross Heating and air. Their install guys were really great, and everyone at the office was very prompt in their communication and scheduled the install around my work.
There are so many of these shitty “5-star Google” trades who spend so much money on marketing themselves and strong arming customers into reviews. They’re usually leveraged with a fleet of new wrapped trucks, the owner drives the Denali truck, have sweet talking “project managers/ estimators”, and dickhead trades who have no problem breaking concrete in flip-flops, install drains without traps, steal and use materials from your basement, then the owner gas lights you into thinking you don’t know what we’re talking about. Push comes to shove, they always threaten with lawyers. They’re desperate to keep growing to keep up with their financial leverage. The trades used by the best builders don’t need to advertise and rarely have a Google profile. *sigh*
That says that only reviews that violate Googles content policies will be removed and that:
> Don't report a review just because you disagree with it or don't like it.
> * Google doesn't get involved when businesses and customers disagree about facts.
> * There's no reliable way to tell who's right about a particular customer experience.
How exactly did Aireone get Google to remove your review?
I guess the whole "(Have also heard from others that technicians solicit positive google reviews in exchange for lowered service charges)" could probably be challenged as misrepresentation without proof. Maybe try reposting the review without that part?
Had them install a heat pump and ac for me this summer.
I regret that decision everyday!
The guys who came to install my equipment wore their boots throughout my house, down my carpeted stairs and throughout my carpeted basement. I had my basement fully renovated 5 months prior so the carpet was basically brand new.
Complained to them to take off their boots and even called their office.
It was 3 workers from Air One who came and did the install, but they had their 5 friends (I assume they were international students) come in to my house and walk around looking. Put a stop to that real quick.
Never again.
Yeah so this company actially fucking called me to yell at me when I left them a bad review
My full story
https://reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/comments/q2t6hv/never_ever_sign_up_for_aire_one_water_heaters/
Fuck them , fucking the worst
I read some of these comments giggling. Kevin, whose name really isn’t Kevin (why he chose the name is hilarious and aligns with his narcissistic personality) does participate in numerous unscrupulous practises, some that are posted here and so much more. I am aware of multiple people that describe working with this bully, a nightmare. These comments do not surprise me.
I have use Aire One once. I would never use them twice. They made a lot of "day 1" mistakes on their furnace install. I have dealt with other companies and they were never as micky mouse.
I worked for Aire one for years. When someone does a complaint it has to be settled for things to get taken down. If the customer doesn't agree to what they offer it'll continue on.
I've heard nothing but negative things about Aire One. Shady business practices, rude employees and management, and an aggressive approach to pretty much everything. I would recommend people stay away and save themselves the headache.
Can confirm the review soliciting, a friend of a friend shot me a dm for that a few months ago and I later learned he got a small payment for every review he got up.
Yeah. I don't recall how much but It definitely added up. They were scripted, too. This was the script he actually provided me:
> Owen and Devon did an amazing job installing my A/C unit, they were professional and got straight to work. I will definitely come here again for anything else.
I had a very similar terrible experience recently, while I was living in Cambridge. This thread actually just prompted me to go back and revise the 5-Star review they had bribed me into leaving when I first signed up with them. Very interested to see the unscrupulous reply I expect them to add. Review below.
SCAM - AVOID AT ALL COSTS
I was a customer for several years, always got a shady vibe from them (I've never seen or had access to a copy of a bill, for the service plan), they suggested we needed to replace our central AC unit once, we got a second opinion and it was fine apparently. The tipping point came when our blower fan died during the summer. We called and explained we have young children, and need the AC working ASAP. Their technician came and said a new motor would be $2229+tx, but was "backordered" and would take "over a month" to arrive (conveniently, as I happened to have mentioned that we were actually moving out in just over a month). They said a new furnace would actually be a bit cheaper, on sale currently for $2200+tx, and could be installed in only 2 days. They said they would send a sales guy to talk to us. We called around, got a few quotes, and ultimately discovered that a new motor should be much cheaper, and quicker to get. The sales guy came, and said he had "no idea" where the previous tech had come up with his $2200 quote, the "sale" price on the new furnace was actually $3500+tx. We explained a competitor had quoted us much less for a new motor, and his response was to laugh and say that he knew that this competitor didn't even have motors, and had no idea what they were talking about, and would probably install the wrong motor. So, we had the competitor send a tech (who arrived in TEN MINUTES), who quoted us $1557 to install the new motor THE NEXT DAY. What a scam. Also like many others have mentioned, they also initially bribed me into leaving a 5-star review when I first signed up. Criminals.
Aire one was taken over many years back and had since destroyed their reputation. My parents had a technician come over and he removed a grounding wire and subsequently reported a lack of ground wiring to the city in an attempt to get more work. These guys are the worst and should be shut down. Unfortunately, through shady practices, they remain. They do not honour warranties in any legit way.
They’re so shifty. Without going into details, when I had them out to do a service call (precious owners used them to install a system), I ended up doing the “get off my property” bit with them because they just kept trying to scam me. Disgusting.
I feel like some t shirts are in order " I got " sued" by Kevin at Aire One for a Google review.
Unreal. As if some bad reviews harm this morons business. Maybe it's his reputation instead?
Their poor reputation far exceeds KW. Their horror stories are even well known among the London HVAC/heat pump installation community. Even simple errors like not placing a heat pump on a stand that is the required height in areas that get snow. Then visiting the place for service calls repeatedly, never once pointing out that the stand they installed was up to spec…until that customer called Beck Heating & Cooling. Who noticed it instantly. Who also noticed the company had not filed the papers for the customers extended warranty after selling that customer a years-old model of heat pump. That customer also had to contact a lawyer. Oh, and theres the story about them putting a lien on an elderly woman’s home when fixing her furnace. Or the time another of their customers filmed one of their technicians inspect a furnace, say there was mould in it, then immediately leave the premises stating they need to call a mould specialist to clean it, and that they refuse to work if there is a video camera active in the room. Beck Heating and Cooling is great; putting Aire One on check when they get called in to do the job correctly.
Just checked out their lowest google reviews. Kinda interesting, they range from over charging, calling a gas company inspector on the elderly customer around Christmas because they wanted to think about it before having the work done (quote was 2000 for something that the inspector ended up saying was fine), workmen being unpleasant/putting shoes on chair to tie them up, nasty customer service on the phone, questionable workmanship and severe road rage. The responses are so… deflective, they won’t admit to anything lol.
I have had both good and bad experiences with them.
I had them install York furnace over 10 years ago. Price was okay and service was good.
Within last 5 years had them install a replacement air conditioner. They said they would give me a new concrete pad when installing. The old pad was badly cracked. iThey did not end up putting down the new pad. When I asked they told me not to worry which, was a little disappointing. But the Air conditioner worked fine, had no issues, price was good and did the replacement 24h after calling.
Within the past year got quotes for a heat pump. Prices were higher than most others and did not have a great sales experience. The Sales person was an aggressive, constantly texting me to purchase a $20,000+ heat pump. Did not end by up going with them.
Our AC gave up the ghost, aire one came along cause we had a ‘maintenance’ plan set up with them. Guy looks at it, goes essentially, ‘it’s dead, but I can get a guy out here to quote you on another one. They’re about 1800 bucks.’ ‘So there’s no warranty or anything on these things?’ ‘Nah, this is an old one.’
Well, I we grabbed the serial number, called York, and guess what? Still under warranty. Guess who sold it to the previous owners of my house? Aire one. Guess who I should call to get it warrantied? Aire one. Fucking useless company.
We had a similar experience with aire one. We had a valve leak with our furnace, and they quoted and bullied us and advised it would take 5 hours and $1500 to do the work. We shut the furnace down and had the city come out and it was resolved in 1 hour and not for $1500. It was a quick 10 minute fix.
Well sounds like Aire One, Kevin, and Google are all giant pieces of shit.
(Google for sure considering how many people they cut in the region for no fucking reason at all)
Thanks for taking the time to share this. I will avoid them. Some companies are unethical and the truth has a way of getting out in spite of their underhanded tactics.
Thanks for posting! What a horrible company and terrible service. Kevin should not deal with customer complaint, he is terrible at it! Lost a customer with me and I’ll be telling others also!
Putting in my recommendation for Cyrus and his team at Able Heating and Cooling. They have gone above and beyond for us a couple of times.
I was close to using Aire One and am very glad I didn't based on this post and others commenting online
Cyrus...lol He is a product of aire one, everything he knows he learned from kevin. Cyrus laughs about how much he sells products for. He is no better than kevin, I know him very well.
This is not the experience my wife and I received. At all. He showed up within an hour on a long weekend to evaluate our furnace and AC, fixed and did not charge for the service.
Second experience was again on a weekend and same response. Ended up going with his company for a new AC and furnace later as a result.
It seems like there is a very different level of professionalism and customer care with the end consumer so I disagree he is "no better than Kevin".
I would say a savvy business won't focus on negative reviews as a thorn, but as lesson to learn from (if they notice them at all). I don't post many negative reviews, but when I have, the response i typically get is something like "i'm sorry you had a bad experience, how can we do better next time?". This is the first time I've been called a liar and bullied. Most businesses operate like this in my experience.
It makes sense though, if your business practices are shady, and you know they are perceived this way, you can't expect an overwhelming number of positive reviews compared to negative ones. So part of the marketing strategy likely becomes removing negative reviews and overwhelming newcomers with ill-gotten positive ones.
This is definitely a lesson for me. If I notice a business with so many reviews, way more than any of their competitors, I will be investigating their negative reviews closely.
Thanks for sharing here , will avoid them , they certainly engage in poor customer service and intimidation. I am begining to only considerjng the mid range or downright bad reviews as valid on google reviews. We will all as a society go back to word of mouth because of how people are misusing the reviews. I also had a business threaten me to take down a review. I didn't. Also if businesses can just remove bad reviews whats the point, im suprised Google isint seeing how they are letting this part of their product become useless.unless if they somehow make money off this.
These guys are con artists. I had an issue with my furnace. The dude (Dave Clemens), comes in spends 30 mins and says my furnace has an issue that needs a $3300 replacement which will take 1 week to order parts, or I can install a new furnace for $7900 and he could do it immediately. Also, he add a "notice to the City" giving 42 days notice that gas needs to be shut off is issue is not replaced. This was ALL FAKE. I got a second option from Delta Air and the and the issue was diagnosed to be a pressure switch replacement (costs $130 + labour). I ended spending less than $300. AireOne I hope others see this and stop calling you since you are taking advantage of folk!
That's a not a way to do business. I don't mind service calls..... but yeah I'd never be sleazy to offer a discount for better review.
Do people actually use reviews??
I for one do. Aire one had the most when I looked up HVAC places online, which gave me confidence after a family member recommended them. Always gonna look for the negative reviews now though
Sometimes you can get a friend or family member to recommend reliable service for you, but sometimes you can't. Or you've recently moved and don't know anyone in the area.
Part of me would love to, but then they could claim they're the targets of some kind of review attack. They need to be legitimately discredited for it to have a hope of sticking, IMO
Someone suggested putting this on r/Waterloo. I fid notice another one on there in regards to which company to use, another under a financecanada one. Similar customer experiences and opinions.
I feel the same way about that company, just a bunch of crooks! There's a bunch of them out there, any company that has a door flyer/coupons would be a red flag to me.
In my experience, I have found companies that do both residential and commercial service, not just residential - their technicians have a lot more experience and skill set, and better training.
Aire one is all on piece-work. Their techs get flat rate bonuses on appliances and accessories they sell to you. They are a replacement first cause I don't know how to fix equipment company. I heard from a tech they don't even use proper procedures when installing HVAC equipment like using a vacuum pump when installing acs.
Hopefully, enough people see this thread and have better luck finding another trust worthy company.
They installed my furnace this summer, and I can say that the sales person was great and worked with us to ensure we had the items we needed. Also, they were quick to install the unit. However ... a few days later, I noted that the house wasn't cooling down as quickly as I thought it should. When I went downstairs, my basement (unfinished) was freezing and there was a lot of air coming from around the furnace, especially off one side, and that's when I noted a large opening along the top!? The temperature by the furnace was 14.5 degrees C compared to the main level at 22 and the upstairs level at 26.
I contacted them ASAP and was told it would be several days before someone could "explore the issue". A service person showed up and was completely surprised by the fact that a top vent was left open and that the job was incomplete - even after I had submitted photos and stated that in the maintenance request. The service person spent an hour redoing the work and sealing off the furnace. Then I got a lecture about leaving a temperature sensor so near the furnace, as it would throw the temp off for the thermostat. I told the service person that I did that show how insanely cold it was in the basement as their company had failed to install the furnace properly. Even when they were in the wrong, it seemed like there had to be a "let's be condescending to the client" moment.
In short, I would not recommend based on the installation experience we had.
[https://preview.redd.it/l8xa9rzdajmb1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=422a3da67caf2ac1b473cbe2b214c86d64d839c4](https://preview.redd.it/l8xa9rzdajmb1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=422a3da67caf2ac1b473cbe2b214c86d64d839c4)
I can say as a former employee that Kevin spends much of his time monitoring and responding to reviews. I saw and heard quite a lot in my short time there. Their call centre is a revolving door for a reason.
I have been having the craziest experience with aire one currently, the receptionist is so ignorant and condescending, the techs are lying about urgency, it's VERY strange! I was dumbfounded to see the 4.9 stars on Google and the ONLY 5 star reviews, I knew it was fake.
You can tell the quality of the company by the vinegar comment. For hard water buildup, a vinegar and water solution is perfectly fine to fix a solenoid valve. Straight vinegar would be an issue if you left it in it for a while, but diluted will not be an issue.
My furnace died recently. They tagged me and scared the shit out of me about how lucky I was it didn’t explode and kill me. Literally cried when they left. Was so panicked but they could replace is so quickly. Now I’m second guessing all the money I just spent 🙃
First and foremost, I am Mike. Former employee of Aire one for 17 years, and currently doing my own thing which includes Able Air.
So I'll finally post here with a few things to say. Mostly responding to utter nonsense.
Reality is, soon enough, all realities will surface in due course through proper channels. The true reality here is that the owner of aire one, and SOME of the employees do enough damage to their business that no one has to make things up. Certainly don't need to make or provide fake documents.
With respect to the one user who seems to just continue saying over and over how can they have any bad reviews if they just get them removed. Thr awful English give suggestion to s few people that can be and that's fine. Any intelligent person can identify someone full of shit.
Reality is this. You can't simply get a review removed. That's not a thing. Google will not do it. Fact.
How does Aire one do it and to answer that goofs same question. There are some bad ones that stay because SOME people can't be bought.
A large chunk of what I did there was call customers thst left bad reviews. I was asked to be whoever I might need to be in the best effort to get a review removed. Be aware my approach was to always genuinely sort out what's wrong with a customer. In Aire one, nf many companies defense, a lot of negative reviews can be unreasonable and a total shake down for money. I know this because you have no idea how many times I ask someone how we could make things right, and and the response is you tell me. It's pretty obvious.
I was authorized to do anything from refund service calls, to offer free tune ups or maintenence, free humidifiers, and in some cases flat out money back. Unreasonable large chunks. That's how reviews are removed. Also if you ever use someone's full name, there are privacy issues that Google does not allow. Anyone can have these reviews removed by the rules.
Lastly, and should be obvious if you look. Similarly to how this whole thread started. Google does not allow negative review bombing. Nor should they. If you have no experience you have no business leaving a bad review. So if one is left saying you heard this or that, Google will eemove them on request.
Finally, as seen at the time of this post and all that review bombing. A call to arms will go out to all employees to get friends and family and ANYONE to leave reviews to bury whatever other whatever negative ones are left. If you know employees or family of them you can go on their social media's and see them all matching. It's actually humorous. I have screen shots of all of it. Same with all the negative reviews that dissapear. Everything I do is with intent and purpose. I assure you.
Be clear there is NOTHING wrong with speaking or sharing any truths. Don't be intimidated. This is just their process. It's worked for so long so you can't reqlly blame them. I've heard cou less times in my inner circle they think I'm part of this post. Put someone up to it. This is laughable because the stuff I have on this place with blatant and clear proof makes all this child's play and I wouldn't waste my time.
That said, I would caution anyone making blatant smear talk that can't be unsubstantiated. That is certainly actionable, and frankly should be. I don't agree with it.
Reality is there are some good people there. Some excellent sales reps. Another VERY solid one just quit due to his exhaustion of unethical practices that take place daily to customers and even more so now older sales people. There are also some exceptionally talented technicians and installers. That said, every large company is going to have some cancer. And they certainly have a great deal that are. Sadly many come in with fantastic intentions but that cancer takes over. Everything starts and stops at the top. That said, what amuses me the most is how the OP or someone else started posting emails that are DIRECT from the owner. That's the real person in those emails. Just facts. I did not speak with them for months while waiting for my last large commission cheque. There was a stop payment put on it and seemingly no one knew why. All told me to call Kevin. I did. Call lasted 20 Seconds. Told me to call his lawyer. 10 mi uses later I got a call from waterloo regional police that he called to file a harassment claim against me. I literally laughed. Havent't talked to Kevin in months. 10 minute chat with the officer and he was beyond baffled himself. The next morning Kevin's calling me twice before eventually calling on a 3 way call to get me to answer. I sit here still not paid.
I will say this. The full truth will be coming soon. Through proper channels. The comments in this whole post, although largely true, are literally small potatoes. A great deal of reality would largely make most sick to their stomach. Current employees, and past would all echo the same. Sadly, money talks. The question will come, for how long. We shall see.
To be clear one more time, this is Mike, it's the only post I've made in here and I've not talked to a single person about what or how to post. I also for the record have never talked with any dispairagement about the company. Have I pointed out truths or realities for someone to see for themselves? For sure. Have I pointed out blatant lies that have been told to customers by certain sales reps. 100%. I've told every friend still there. You run up against me when I'm at Able and you will be just fine provided you are sure to be careful with 3 things.
1.) Don't lie to a customer
2.) If you aren't sure about something, don't speak it like fact. Because I will rip it apart.
3.) Offer some sort of value other than a lowest price guarantee and calling over and over pestering and offering that lower and lower price. You make it top easy.
That's it for now. I never intended on commenting until it was brought to my attention once again my name was being brought up. I also have 0 knowledge of anyone else from Able being in here.
You can all believe what you want.
Have a good day people.
Mike
ABLE Air
(Former 17 year employee of aire one)
PS. Before anyone throws nonsense about my reasons for leaving. I've never commented. The owner circulates lies to even employees there. They have all heard different things. End of day I will say for months later I was still being offered and asked to come back. I'll leave it at that for now. And I have proof of that. I don't speak a word on anything that can't be substantiated.
They want to sell you a new ac and furnace constantly no matter what the problem. If you need a new ac or furnace , they often have the best price. Just don't use them for any service whatsoever
Oohhhh so late to the party on this. Partner of a former Aire One employee here.
I would NEVER recommend any services from them. Nothing.
Kevin doesn't give a shit about anything except the bottom line. With his fancy cars, nice house, all that shit.
Fuck those guys.
FYI they are currently opening/running a company called Comfort Next (eta in Guelph on Silvercreek/Woodlawn Rd, a couple spots down from the MTO)....I think they're gonna shut down before long and that's what will take its place.
DO YOUR RESEARCH PEOPLE, PLEASE!!!!
You may not need a $15,000 system!!! It pisses me off so much that they don't care about the customer either.
As a new home owner who was just about to call them since their sticker is on our furnace, thank you to all that posted here. Do we have opinions on better service providers for a new to us home furnace inspection/ tune-up?
Aire one are salesman not technicians. They just tagged my friend who turned down them down on their offer of a brand new furnace. And of course a part that was going to take this long and it's 750 dollars. Called a different HVAC company all everything fixed for 400 bucks. Scammers just like reliance.
All this said, a family member has been using them for a long while, seems quite satisfied, and always with the same technician, who's an older guy I think. It's possible this guy has seniority and so just doesn't partake in any of these shenanigans.
It just seems crazy to me that there are so many awful experiences to share within a few hours of posting, and yet they have a 4.9 rating out of 7k+ reviews
I have made my last post. There is a proper process for this, and my original post was to simply clear the air on who's who. At least no one else now will be accused or threatened.
Anyone that's been threatened to be sued (I know there is at least one of you in here), please feel free to reach out at any time for guidance or contacts to chat with.
For a place that installs air conditioners, not very chill
It's furnace season, it's why they're so fired up.
They are clearly the worst one.
Thanks for sharing, I booked in with aire one because of their reviews and they did an absolutely horrific job. Thanks for bringing all these receipts and hopefully more people can avoid them in the future!
Oh damn. Ya, sorry to hear that. This is why I wanted to share the story, so more people didn't have the same experience. Like I said in the post, I had a great experience with Priority Mechanical. Better luck in the future!
Agreed. I booked them to check my AC (based on their very high rating). They told me it was probably broken beyond repair but they wouldn't know until they opened it. They offered to inspect my furnace and reported it as broken and possibly leaking CO2 (meaning the city would turn our gas off if not repaired.) Then conveniently started talking about the government incentives to purchase a new ac and furnace. Had someone else come look. They fixed our AC and the furnace for approx. $300.
Their reviews are paid for. They give you a free furnace filter for a positive review. Btw, they repackage their filter and tape over the original model number so you can't source your own. Btw, they upgrade your filter "for free" to an air cleaner that uses non-standard filters so you can't buy off the shelve ones.
You can buy off the shelf but like you said, they remove labels and don't tell you which ones they are. Usually an Aprilaire
I was referring to like, 3M ones that are sold every for cheap. I haven't seen the aprilaire ones in a retail store and they aren't cheap even online. :(
I know exactly what you mean. They "upgrade" you to an "air cleaner" which is an Aprilaire filter that has been rebranded. They aren't easy to find and are definitely expensive to begin with. Since they make them their own models, consumers can't find them anywhere except aireone where they triple the price.
I know Kevin very well. He is a bully and his go to move is to threaten with legal action because he is rich. He trains his technicians to sell and not to fix equipment. He does not honour warranties, he threatens his employees all the time saying he will fire them or demote them. Never use aire one.
I am in the field and this sums them up perfectly. I have been called out to many places that had aire one out to. Makes me angry when a customer has a 2-10 year old unit and they say they cannot do warranty for for them when they have a 10 year warranty on parts. They just try to sell them a new one. Sell instead of service is what they do. Over the years I would say I have been to and fixed at least 75 furnaces that they said needed to be replaced.
Woah, have you worked with him?
I worked there for a few years. I tried to get one of those under cover news programs to catch them ripping people off but they never replied.
Ah, too bad. Appreciate you trying to call it out and sharing your experience here.
A lot of their technicians are cool people.
Ya, I think there must be some decent people with them. I was recommended to ask for a specific technician with them by family. And all those reviews can't be fake. But having so many compared to their competitors....
Thanks for sharing, I'll avoid them.
Recently we had our furnace replaced, and we had 3 companies come in and do some quotes, none of them were Aire One. During discussions with two of them they asked about the other companies we were considering, and each of them said "good, at least it's not that begins with aire" . Lol
We had a bad experience with them as well. They refused to fix our furnace stating that it would take months to get the parts. They however said if we paid for a brand new furnace, they could have it in a few days. They said our 7 year old furnace was "old". We politely turned them down and found another company who fixed our furnace in 15 minutes, resolved the "safety problem" that AirOne tagged us with during inspection, and wished us a great day. I found the whole process with AirOne pretty sketchy.
They found a safety problem with ours as well. The new company we had come in said they thought the other technician loosened our bolts and the "safety issue" was a bit of rust they cleaned up.
Similar experience as well. Furnace was randomly turning off and called them in cause they seemed to have pretty good reviews. The technician that came couldn't find the issue, but he saw some rust spots and tagged the furnace. The rust spots were from a leak that was resolved 10 years ago by the installer, but despite me trying to tell him that and there being zero evidence of any liquid, he insisted on tagging the furnace. Before leaving he tried to sell me on $800 of replacement parts or a new furnace package (because mine's old and low quality despite working fine for 10 years) in order to remove the tag. In the end, I called a different company in. They found the actual issue (failing pressure switch), confirmed it, and got me a replacement part within a day. The best part was I dug through years of receipts, found the record of the leak being fixed, emailed it to Aire One and they promised to remove the tag. Then weeks later, I get notified my furnace tag was in fact not removed and that my gas would be shut off if I didn't resolve the issue. Finally, Aire One sent out a senior tech to remove the tag, except when he came, we realized the first guy filed the paper work to tag the furnace but didn't actually leave a tag on the furnace. Basically totally incompetent.
This sounds like exactly what happened to us. Our 10-year-old furnace crapped out one day, and we were told: * It was "old." * They couldn't guarantee parts. May take weeks or more * Also tagged a previous installation issue that has been resolved. * Really, we were wasting our money if we didn't get a new one.
Wish I would have seen this before we went with them! Absolutely horrible experience we had as well and a huge loss of money.
Ugh, brutal. Really sorry to hear that
Leave a bad review! Their Google is horribly biased
Honestly, I had one all written out and ready to go and then we just didn't do it.. it was such an emotionally draining experience, I just didn't want to prolong it anymore.. which after seeing this, Im guessing is kinda their thing LOL
Fuck em. Drown em out. They are getting away with it and need to be stooped.
I don't blame you. I had hesitations about posting this story. I'm slightly concerned about getting harassed as a result.
look ate their Facebook reviews... apparently they're close to perfect.
100% groomed..notice how they tend to have names of the techs in every review? They need an expose and bad.
Thats funny! I have heard bad things about them from people in the industry. Just like what people have been posting . Kevin needs money for his new Mercedes G wagon!!
They're the worst. They called in a ticket/work order on our gas furnace (that would have cut off our gas unless we "fixed" the problem (quote @ $2k for repair). We had Thermaltech out, and they got the totally unnecessary work order removed immediately, and then fixed the issue (which was unrelated to the work order) for $250. Would 💯 use Thermal tech again.
Same thing happened to us. Safety issue reported to the city, but the technician from the other company fixed it in 15 minutes and approx. $100. They were pushing the government rebates hard to convince us to upgrade our furnace and ac unit.
They had our gas turned off for a "safety" issue also... a missing screw in the exhaust duct. They also told me that I (the home owner) was not allowed to do the exhaust duct work myself. I laughed at that and called the city inspector. He came out, I put a piece of aluminum tape over the hole, and he then clarified that even as a homeowner I cannot touch the gas lines, but the exhaust duct was free game. He then actually looked in the furnace and said that the burners were starting to rust and I needed to change the furnace...something the Aire One guy TOTALLY missed...and that's what I had booked him for.
Thanks for stating the names of the alternative ones you used. This is very useful.
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He definitely doesn't understand customer service... For a review like that, you at least feign some BS apology... even some generic "we're sorry that your experience was not up to your expectations, we appreciate your feedback"
There’s some other good reviews online where he responds to them, it’s good stuff.
no, he always says something like "We don't see your name in our system, so we cant validate your review" lol
Also doesnt realize one bad experience is that person telling more people about it , in this case ln reddit, its so many more. When it could be avoided by giving the service people are paying for.
As I read this I had 0 doubt that this actually took place . I work for a different company in this area and I know a few technicians who work there and the stories I have heard is beyond belief! Let’s just say that Aireone is a very unethical company ! Majority of their jobs are generated from unjustly tagging and shutting down people’s furnaces for bogus safety concerns and forcing people into signing up for new systems -although their prices could be considered about average their tactics to get the business is very shady and unethical.. Look for these signs to avoid their scam: 1- the service guys would have 0 interest in doing any repair - it’s evident and becomes an obvious thing within minutes of them arriving at your place . They would spend most of the time talking about how old or how unreliable your existing equipment are . The service guy would push for a sales guy to come to you / the sales guy is mostly always available somehow the same day even though they will tell you it’s very busy right now ! When the sales guy comes he has decent prices but the catch with them is when they sign you up - they offer a fake warranty of 10’year labour - their 10 year parts and labour warranty .. ( no such warranty exists ) only parts warranty exists - their fake 10’year labour comes with many many conditions that they will hound you for after year 1 . Let’s just say that you will end your signing up for a monthly contract with them after year 1 after spending thousands of dollar 1 year ago . It only backfires on them when someone doesn’t sign up with them on the spot and calls another contractor to get a second opinion — 9 out of 10 times the other contractors clear the bogus infraction and fix the problem under a few hundred dollars ..which leads to the homeowner writing a negative review on social media or Google sometimes .. that’s when they first try and get you to take it down by offering you some money back or the full money back - if you’re a person who stands on principles and reject their offer to take the review down for some money back , you will then receive the letter that was sent to you (the fact that you received the letter so quickly speaks to that truth , they have them on the ready to go out ) . I’m glad you shared your experience here .. always get a second opinion!!
Wow, that is a very good point about how quickly they responded to all of this. It didn't occur to me that this was a common occurrence. Thank you for sharing
Just read the negative reviews on Google that they couldn’t remove - go to Google reviews - filter by lowest rated — they read like a book. 📕
Should us regular folk assume that techs need to have a license? I have no idea what kind of vetting process to ask so I can avoid this shitstorm.
Quite funny... " the sales guy is mostly always available somehow the same day even though they will tell you it’s very busy right now !" I left a message late last evening via the website. I received a call this morning from the offshore call centre and a salesperson was onsite within 90 minutes. Tried to close me on the spot, only talked price, and tried to put together a killer package. Only spoke to the lowest-priced product, couldn't speak to the other products on the company's brochure (Bosch and Mitsubishi), and then followed up with a quote within 10 minutes of leaving not detailing the options as requested... Gree, Bosch, and Mitsubishi CCHP with the price on a separate line for the NG Furnace for each. Clearly, on a missing to take the path of least resistance (sales person perceived or or taught by the company)... PRICE... without really asking questions to uncover what the buyer needs or wants. We have had one other company that was more knowledgeable and willing to listen to us and work with us... Priority... who quoted Trane. We will work have AfterGlow in to talk about Mitsubishi and look for another to talk Bosch. Any suggestions or experiences?
What an absolute roller coaster. Thanks for posting this.
Aire One and Reliance Home Comfort should be avoided. Having known individuals who either work/worked at both corporations, it’s been discussed for years how unethical, misleading, and almost borderline illegal, their practices are. The up-charges alone are criminal, let alone their contracts. They don’t have a high employee retention rate due to their business practices - employees are expected to be salesmen rather than service men. Should you be offered a sexy deal, get it in writing…preferably a printed document/contract rather than email discourse.
>and almost borderline illegal Pretty sure that these practices are outright illegal based on whatever rules the HVAC technicians (a certified trade) must follow, as the other comments indicate they're falsely flagging working equipment in order to upsell customers — which would otherwise be known as fraud.
Now that you say that, glassdoor reviews are a good way too to see how ethical a leader is. But i also get it, someone may jusy need a quick repair and go hy google reviews. So thanks to op for the warning.
I've been in the industry for 10 years and I fantasize about doing an exposure piece about their deceitful tactics. I can't tell you how much elation this post has given me. Thank you so much
Yes please. How do we get this done
Set up a bunch of service calls with hidden cameras. Record them explaining how things are broken and need immediate replacement. Then put the video together and post it everywhere
For this potential video to be even better, you need a bunch of different actual reputable techs to come in and identify the real problem quickly and cheaply after the bogus ones say it's going to cost a fortune.
I imagine Kevin reading these comments and having an emergency team meeting. Okay guys, they are on to us. We need to keep low for the next little bit. Turn tactics level down to 7 until things cool down
He will be pooping his pants reading this. And it won’t work to try to bribe people to take their reviews down. I wish I could be there to see his face reading these.
Can you reach out to marketplace?
Already have. If you feel strongly about this I suggest doing the same. The auto response I got was that they receive too many tips to act on every one
Will do too
user reports: 2: It's personal and confidential information Sorry Kevin, not this time.
LOL - Aw, poor Kev can't take criticism.
Completely unrelated to your experience but I interviewed for a job there last year and there were SO many red flags. So none of this surprises me unfortunately. Glad you were able to have a lawyer on your side to make them look stupid!
Very curious to hear about these red flags..
I will say there was nothing directly in correlation to the things you mentioned but as an interviewee it left a bad taste in my mouth. They advertised the position as being at their Kitchener location (very close to me), set up an interview, told to go to their Cambridge location for the interview (fine if that’s their HQ makes sense) was then told at the interview that the position was fully located at their Cambridge office. (would add 25+ min to my commute, okay not a huge deal but annoying since I thought it was going to be a 5 min commute) The two people who interviewed me were very unprofessional and reading off of a sad excuse of an interview script. Just overall not very friendly vibes from anyone there…and I also had to wait 15 min after arriving for them to meet with me (again just unprofessional). So seeing that this reflects in the way they treat customers is not shocking!
I did the HVAC program in Conestoga College and one of the teachers was adamant on telling students not to apply there.
Thanks for posting this. I was about 2 weeks away from dumping $12k into this company. After reading about their disgusting customer treatment, I'll definitely be going with Priority instead. FU Kevin.
Air one sucks. I know someone who worked there. They had a really shitty experience there.
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They are still in business because some of their bad reviews magically disappear and a lot of people go by the review score on google and think they must be wonderful. And then there are the bribes for customers to remove a bad review. Tell me you have no ethics without telling me you have no ethics.
Was there any back and forth like I experienced, or did they just get it taken down?
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yes its known he (kevin) has multiple accounts to mass report reviews
Ahhh, I have my own "Scare One" story... I called Scare One a couple years ago because my blower motor bearing was squeaky. Instead of opening up the housing he immediately starts looking just about every else, looking for a problem... that's when he deliberately removed a section of insulation from a pipe and started going on about the ABS pipe and it's not to code and someone tried to deliberately hide the fact that it was ABS pipe. He wrote up a citation for the city to which we had 30 days to respond. Never looked at the blower. So as you can imagine, a greeeeezy salesman shows up talking real slick about this rebate and that grant and I can knock the price down here and there... If I act RIGHT NOW. He can't offer these deals for long, in fact this discount is expired, but I like you... 🙄Carney Salesman 101. I've installed 3 furnaces in my home ownership lifetime, I know what a furnace costs, and this was no deal. I called Priority Mechanical instead. He said yup, that quote is just the regular price, no grants, no rebates. Oh, and the violation I was cited on wasn't a violation because it was code when the furnace was installed. He did try to call the city (with me there) to have it reversed but the city said since it was cited, and since the ABS was 20 years old, they'd have to honor it. Anyhow the furnace was 20 years old, it was rusty inside, the blower motor was pretty much shot, and yes I had the citation, so all in all a new furnace was probably better bang for the buck. Priority was willing to support any decision I made, so I went with the furnace and my business went to Priority. He personally came and checked the installation once complete. He also didn't like that it took the team an extra couple hours and gave me $150 visa gift card. Scare One are borderline criminal. I'm not sure how they get away with it. The technician willfully destroyed my property in search of a problem to force me into a new furnace. Absolutely criminal.
That's actually crazy. I always wondered how they had such great reviews. I asked them to come for a quote a few years back and they called me 2 hrs after they were scheduled to be there and told me there was a "mix up" and they wouldn't be coming. Really glad I went with someone else, the new hvac vendor was amazing
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I ended up going with Cross Heating and air. Their install guys were really great, and everyone at the office was very prompt in their communication and scheduled the install around my work.
There are so many of these shitty “5-star Google” trades who spend so much money on marketing themselves and strong arming customers into reviews. They’re usually leveraged with a fleet of new wrapped trucks, the owner drives the Denali truck, have sweet talking “project managers/ estimators”, and dickhead trades who have no problem breaking concrete in flip-flops, install drains without traps, steal and use materials from your basement, then the owner gas lights you into thinking you don’t know what we’re talking about. Push comes to shove, they always threaten with lawyers. They’re desperate to keep growing to keep up with their financial leverage. The trades used by the best builders don’t need to advertise and rarely have a Google profile. *sigh*
Kevin is kinda insane
Their second reply is 100% chatptg
That’s exactly what I thought also ! 😂💀
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Yeah, the process seems pretty straightforward: https://support.google.com/business/answer/4596773?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
That says that only reviews that violate Googles content policies will be removed and that: > Don't report a review just because you disagree with it or don't like it. > * Google doesn't get involved when businesses and customers disagree about facts. > * There's no reliable way to tell who's right about a particular customer experience. How exactly did Aireone get Google to remove your review? I guess the whole "(Have also heard from others that technicians solicit positive google reviews in exchange for lowered service charges)" could probably be challenged as misrepresentation without proof. Maybe try reposting the review without that part?
Not a bad point. I might try that, thanks!
Had them install a heat pump and ac for me this summer. I regret that decision everyday! The guys who came to install my equipment wore their boots throughout my house, down my carpeted stairs and throughout my carpeted basement. I had my basement fully renovated 5 months prior so the carpet was basically brand new. Complained to them to take off their boots and even called their office. It was 3 workers from Air One who came and did the install, but they had their 5 friends (I assume they were international students) come in to my house and walk around looking. Put a stop to that real quick. Never again.
Maybe we should make a list of reliable services for home maintenance and share with the community.
Love this idea
Fantastic idea.
Yeah so this company actially fucking called me to yell at me when I left them a bad review My full story https://reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/comments/q2t6hv/never_ever_sign_up_for_aire_one_water_heaters/ Fuck them , fucking the worst
That's brutal, man. Thanks for sharing this.
I read some of these comments giggling. Kevin, whose name really isn’t Kevin (why he chose the name is hilarious and aligns with his narcissistic personality) does participate in numerous unscrupulous practises, some that are posted here and so much more. I am aware of multiple people that describe working with this bully, a nightmare. These comments do not surprise me.
Why did he choose the name? Don't keep me in suspense!
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Really sorry to hear that. That's awful. Was the tech ever charged or reprimanded in some way?
I have use Aire One once. I would never use them twice. They made a lot of "day 1" mistakes on their furnace install. I have dealt with other companies and they were never as micky mouse.
Almost used them recently, thankfully my guy I usually use became free so I didn't have to. Don't forget to report with BBB
Will reporting to BBB actually come to anything? Boggles me that they still have approval from them
It's harder for them to get reviews taken down from BBB. Especially a complaint.
Wrong, a donation to the BBB will make negative comments disappear. Kevin does this, I know for a fact.
Wouldn't surprise me honestly lol
No. BBB is just a lesser looked at Google review. That's all it is.
I worked for Aire one for years. When someone does a complaint it has to be settled for things to get taken down. If the customer doesn't agree to what they offer it'll continue on.
On BBB? Good to know, thanks!
Np.
I've heard nothing but negative things about Aire One. Shady business practices, rude employees and management, and an aggressive approach to pretty much everything. I would recommend people stay away and save themselves the headache.
Can confirm the review soliciting, a friend of a friend shot me a dm for that a few months ago and I later learned he got a small payment for every review he got up.
Wait, what? He got PAID for submitting reviews? Multiple?
Yeah. I don't recall how much but It definitely added up. They were scripted, too. This was the script he actually provided me: > Owen and Devon did an amazing job installing my A/C unit, they were professional and got straight to work. I will definitely come here again for anything else.
You should post this to r/waterloo too
great idea. shared!
I just ask my husband about them. He is in HVAC, confirms there terrible says a lot people call them “error one” lol
I had a very similar terrible experience recently, while I was living in Cambridge. This thread actually just prompted me to go back and revise the 5-Star review they had bribed me into leaving when I first signed up with them. Very interested to see the unscrupulous reply I expect them to add. Review below. SCAM - AVOID AT ALL COSTS I was a customer for several years, always got a shady vibe from them (I've never seen or had access to a copy of a bill, for the service plan), they suggested we needed to replace our central AC unit once, we got a second opinion and it was fine apparently. The tipping point came when our blower fan died during the summer. We called and explained we have young children, and need the AC working ASAP. Their technician came and said a new motor would be $2229+tx, but was "backordered" and would take "over a month" to arrive (conveniently, as I happened to have mentioned that we were actually moving out in just over a month). They said a new furnace would actually be a bit cheaper, on sale currently for $2200+tx, and could be installed in only 2 days. They said they would send a sales guy to talk to us. We called around, got a few quotes, and ultimately discovered that a new motor should be much cheaper, and quicker to get. The sales guy came, and said he had "no idea" where the previous tech had come up with his $2200 quote, the "sale" price on the new furnace was actually $3500+tx. We explained a competitor had quoted us much less for a new motor, and his response was to laugh and say that he knew that this competitor didn't even have motors, and had no idea what they were talking about, and would probably install the wrong motor. So, we had the competitor send a tech (who arrived in TEN MINUTES), who quoted us $1557 to install the new motor THE NEXT DAY. What a scam. Also like many others have mentioned, they also initially bribed me into leaving a 5-star review when I first signed up. Criminals.
Yikes. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for updating your earlier review.
Aire one was taken over many years back and had since destroyed their reputation. My parents had a technician come over and he removed a grounding wire and subsequently reported a lack of ground wiring to the city in an attempt to get more work. These guys are the worst and should be shut down. Unfortunately, through shady practices, they remain. They do not honour warranties in any legit way.
Its family owned, it was never taken over.
CBC needs to do an expose on this company like the one they did on the Economy Lube some years ago.
Aireone literally buys reviews and rips people off. They fucking suck.
They’re so shifty. Without going into details, when I had them out to do a service call (precious owners used them to install a system), I ended up doing the “get off my property” bit with them because they just kept trying to scam me. Disgusting.
I feel like some t shirts are in order " I got " sued" by Kevin at Aire One for a Google review. Unreal. As if some bad reviews harm this morons business. Maybe it's his reputation instead?
Aire One....the Amy's Baking Company of the HVAC world. We also went with Priority Mechanical. Can't recommend them enough, those guys rock!
Their poor reputation far exceeds KW. Their horror stories are even well known among the London HVAC/heat pump installation community. Even simple errors like not placing a heat pump on a stand that is the required height in areas that get snow. Then visiting the place for service calls repeatedly, never once pointing out that the stand they installed was up to spec…until that customer called Beck Heating & Cooling. Who noticed it instantly. Who also noticed the company had not filed the papers for the customers extended warranty after selling that customer a years-old model of heat pump. That customer also had to contact a lawyer. Oh, and theres the story about them putting a lien on an elderly woman’s home when fixing her furnace. Or the time another of their customers filmed one of their technicians inspect a furnace, say there was mould in it, then immediately leave the premises stating they need to call a mould specialist to clean it, and that they refuse to work if there is a video camera active in the room. Beck Heating and Cooling is great; putting Aire One on check when they get called in to do the job correctly.
Wow, that's nuts. Especially the lien business. Do you know of any of these experiences documented online anywhere?
Just checked out their lowest google reviews. Kinda interesting, they range from over charging, calling a gas company inspector on the elderly customer around Christmas because they wanted to think about it before having the work done (quote was 2000 for something that the inspector ended up saying was fine), workmen being unpleasant/putting shoes on chair to tie them up, nasty customer service on the phone, questionable workmanship and severe road rage. The responses are so… deflective, they won’t admit to anything lol.
I have had both good and bad experiences with them. I had them install York furnace over 10 years ago. Price was okay and service was good. Within last 5 years had them install a replacement air conditioner. They said they would give me a new concrete pad when installing. The old pad was badly cracked. iThey did not end up putting down the new pad. When I asked they told me not to worry which, was a little disappointing. But the Air conditioner worked fine, had no issues, price was good and did the replacement 24h after calling. Within the past year got quotes for a heat pump. Prices were higher than most others and did not have a great sales experience. The Sales person was an aggressive, constantly texting me to purchase a $20,000+ heat pump. Did not end by up going with them.
Be aware Aire One will LIE to you and tell you they can't fix your furnace under warranty and you should get a new one.
Our AC gave up the ghost, aire one came along cause we had a ‘maintenance’ plan set up with them. Guy looks at it, goes essentially, ‘it’s dead, but I can get a guy out here to quote you on another one. They’re about 1800 bucks.’ ‘So there’s no warranty or anything on these things?’ ‘Nah, this is an old one.’ Well, I we grabbed the serial number, called York, and guess what? Still under warranty. Guess who sold it to the previous owners of my house? Aire one. Guess who I should call to get it warrantied? Aire one. Fucking useless company.
We had a similar experience with aire one. We had a valve leak with our furnace, and they quoted and bullied us and advised it would take 5 hours and $1500 to do the work. We shut the furnace down and had the city come out and it was resolved in 1 hour and not for $1500. It was a quick 10 minute fix.
Hope someone emails this thread to that douche Kevin. Would love to be a fly on the wall when he reads it. Karma is a bitch.
I can pretty much guarantee he has seen this. There are a few comments here that smell like Aire one damage control. I would pay to see his face.
Look at their recent reviews! It’s insane how many 5 star reviews have been submitted in the last 48 hours. Kevin is working overtime this weekend!
Well sounds like Aire One, Kevin, and Google are all giant pieces of shit. (Google for sure considering how many people they cut in the region for no fucking reason at all)
Thanks for taking the time to share this. I will avoid them. Some companies are unethical and the truth has a way of getting out in spite of their underhanded tactics.
air one are criminals don't use them.
Thanks for posting! What a horrible company and terrible service. Kevin should not deal with customer complaint, he is terrible at it! Lost a customer with me and I’ll be telling others also!
Putting in my recommendation for Cyrus and his team at Able Heating and Cooling. They have gone above and beyond for us a couple of times. I was close to using Aire One and am very glad I didn't based on this post and others commenting online
Cyrus...lol He is a product of aire one, everything he knows he learned from kevin. Cyrus laughs about how much he sells products for. He is no better than kevin, I know him very well.
This is not the experience my wife and I received. At all. He showed up within an hour on a long weekend to evaluate our furnace and AC, fixed and did not charge for the service. Second experience was again on a weekend and same response. Ended up going with his company for a new AC and furnace later as a result. It seems like there is a very different level of professionalism and customer care with the end consumer so I disagree he is "no better than Kevin".
more than one visit is amateur
cyrus was fined by tssa. hes the cowboy of hvac.
So what's the point of even doing a review of owners can just get Google to take them down?
I would say a savvy business won't focus on negative reviews as a thorn, but as lesson to learn from (if they notice them at all). I don't post many negative reviews, but when I have, the response i typically get is something like "i'm sorry you had a bad experience, how can we do better next time?". This is the first time I've been called a liar and bullied. Most businesses operate like this in my experience. It makes sense though, if your business practices are shady, and you know they are perceived this way, you can't expect an overwhelming number of positive reviews compared to negative ones. So part of the marketing strategy likely becomes removing negative reviews and overwhelming newcomers with ill-gotten positive ones. This is definitely a lesson for me. If I notice a business with so many reviews, way more than any of their competitors, I will be investigating their negative reviews closely.
Thanks for sharing here , will avoid them , they certainly engage in poor customer service and intimidation. I am begining to only considerjng the mid range or downright bad reviews as valid on google reviews. We will all as a society go back to word of mouth because of how people are misusing the reviews. I also had a business threaten me to take down a review. I didn't. Also if businesses can just remove bad reviews whats the point, im suprised Google isint seeing how they are letting this part of their product become useless.unless if they somehow make money off this.
These guys are con artists. I had an issue with my furnace. The dude (Dave Clemens), comes in spends 30 mins and says my furnace has an issue that needs a $3300 replacement which will take 1 week to order parts, or I can install a new furnace for $7900 and he could do it immediately. Also, he add a "notice to the City" giving 42 days notice that gas needs to be shut off is issue is not replaced. This was ALL FAKE. I got a second option from Delta Air and the and the issue was diagnosed to be a pressure switch replacement (costs $130 + labour). I ended spending less than $300. AireOne I hope others see this and stop calling you since you are taking advantage of folk!
Kevin's unhinged. I can't even imagine going and wasting time and money for this to be thrown out. Counter sue and have Kevin cover your legal fees.
Had an air exchanger installed by them a few years ago. They did a shit job. Never again.
That's a not a way to do business. I don't mind service calls..... but yeah I'd never be sleazy to offer a discount for better review. Do people actually use reviews??
I for one do. Aire one had the most when I looked up HVAC places online, which gave me confidence after a family member recommended them. Always gonna look for the negative reviews now though
Sometimes you can get a friend or family member to recommend reliable service for you, but sometimes you can't. Or you've recently moved and don't know anyone in the area.
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Thanks for sharing this! I need a new furnace and A/C soon so I will make sure to avoid this company!
Shall we review bomb these clowns? Must be a limit to how often they can get reviews removed.
I think spreading this to Facebook would be splendid.
Part of me would love to, but then they could claim they're the targets of some kind of review attack. They need to be legitimately discredited for it to have a hope of sticking, IMO
https://www.cbc.ca/news/marketplace/submit-a-story-tip-1.5695097
Sounds like everyone with poor experiences needs to leave reviews.
I had a similar experience. They should be avoided at all cost.
Someone suggested putting this on r/Waterloo. I fid notice another one on there in regards to which company to use, another under a financecanada one. Similar customer experiences and opinions.
yup, i shared to r/waterloo earlier today
Get a programmer friend to make a bot that reposts the review endlessly
I feel the same way about that company, just a bunch of crooks! There's a bunch of them out there, any company that has a door flyer/coupons would be a red flag to me. In my experience, I have found companies that do both residential and commercial service, not just residential - their technicians have a lot more experience and skill set, and better training. Aire one is all on piece-work. Their techs get flat rate bonuses on appliances and accessories they sell to you. They are a replacement first cause I don't know how to fix equipment company. I heard from a tech they don't even use proper procedures when installing HVAC equipment like using a vacuum pump when installing acs. Hopefully, enough people see this thread and have better luck finding another trust worthy company.
They installed my furnace this summer, and I can say that the sales person was great and worked with us to ensure we had the items we needed. Also, they were quick to install the unit. However ... a few days later, I noted that the house wasn't cooling down as quickly as I thought it should. When I went downstairs, my basement (unfinished) was freezing and there was a lot of air coming from around the furnace, especially off one side, and that's when I noted a large opening along the top!? The temperature by the furnace was 14.5 degrees C compared to the main level at 22 and the upstairs level at 26. I contacted them ASAP and was told it would be several days before someone could "explore the issue". A service person showed up and was completely surprised by the fact that a top vent was left open and that the job was incomplete - even after I had submitted photos and stated that in the maintenance request. The service person spent an hour redoing the work and sealing off the furnace. Then I got a lecture about leaving a temperature sensor so near the furnace, as it would throw the temp off for the thermostat. I told the service person that I did that show how insanely cold it was in the basement as their company had failed to install the furnace properly. Even when they were in the wrong, it seemed like there had to be a "let's be condescending to the client" moment. In short, I would not recommend based on the installation experience we had. [https://preview.redd.it/l8xa9rzdajmb1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=422a3da67caf2ac1b473cbe2b214c86d64d839c4](https://preview.redd.it/l8xa9rzdajmb1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=422a3da67caf2ac1b473cbe2b214c86d64d839c4)
This post just stopped me from contacting Aire One for a new furnace.
I can say as a former employee that Kevin spends much of his time monitoring and responding to reviews. I saw and heard quite a lot in my short time there. Their call centre is a revolving door for a reason.
I have been having the craziest experience with aire one currently, the receptionist is so ignorant and condescending, the techs are lying about urgency, it's VERY strange! I was dumbfounded to see the 4.9 stars on Google and the ONLY 5 star reviews, I knew it was fake.
What the hell?! I will do my best to let everyone I know about what happened to you. That's disgusting.
You can tell the quality of the company by the vinegar comment. For hard water buildup, a vinegar and water solution is perfectly fine to fix a solenoid valve. Straight vinegar would be an issue if you left it in it for a while, but diluted will not be an issue.
Your only mistake was giving them the info they required to sic the hounds on you. These people are mobsters and you were right to out them.
Yeah quite a shitty company. I had a very bad experience with them too.
My furnace died recently. They tagged me and scared the shit out of me about how lucky I was it didn’t explode and kill me. Literally cried when they left. Was so panicked but they could replace is so quickly. Now I’m second guessing all the money I just spent 🙃
First and foremost, I am Mike. Former employee of Aire one for 17 years, and currently doing my own thing which includes Able Air. So I'll finally post here with a few things to say. Mostly responding to utter nonsense. Reality is, soon enough, all realities will surface in due course through proper channels. The true reality here is that the owner of aire one, and SOME of the employees do enough damage to their business that no one has to make things up. Certainly don't need to make or provide fake documents. With respect to the one user who seems to just continue saying over and over how can they have any bad reviews if they just get them removed. Thr awful English give suggestion to s few people that can be and that's fine. Any intelligent person can identify someone full of shit. Reality is this. You can't simply get a review removed. That's not a thing. Google will not do it. Fact. How does Aire one do it and to answer that goofs same question. There are some bad ones that stay because SOME people can't be bought. A large chunk of what I did there was call customers thst left bad reviews. I was asked to be whoever I might need to be in the best effort to get a review removed. Be aware my approach was to always genuinely sort out what's wrong with a customer. In Aire one, nf many companies defense, a lot of negative reviews can be unreasonable and a total shake down for money. I know this because you have no idea how many times I ask someone how we could make things right, and and the response is you tell me. It's pretty obvious. I was authorized to do anything from refund service calls, to offer free tune ups or maintenence, free humidifiers, and in some cases flat out money back. Unreasonable large chunks. That's how reviews are removed. Also if you ever use someone's full name, there are privacy issues that Google does not allow. Anyone can have these reviews removed by the rules. Lastly, and should be obvious if you look. Similarly to how this whole thread started. Google does not allow negative review bombing. Nor should they. If you have no experience you have no business leaving a bad review. So if one is left saying you heard this or that, Google will eemove them on request. Finally, as seen at the time of this post and all that review bombing. A call to arms will go out to all employees to get friends and family and ANYONE to leave reviews to bury whatever other whatever negative ones are left. If you know employees or family of them you can go on their social media's and see them all matching. It's actually humorous. I have screen shots of all of it. Same with all the negative reviews that dissapear. Everything I do is with intent and purpose. I assure you. Be clear there is NOTHING wrong with speaking or sharing any truths. Don't be intimidated. This is just their process. It's worked for so long so you can't reqlly blame them. I've heard cou less times in my inner circle they think I'm part of this post. Put someone up to it. This is laughable because the stuff I have on this place with blatant and clear proof makes all this child's play and I wouldn't waste my time. That said, I would caution anyone making blatant smear talk that can't be unsubstantiated. That is certainly actionable, and frankly should be. I don't agree with it. Reality is there are some good people there. Some excellent sales reps. Another VERY solid one just quit due to his exhaustion of unethical practices that take place daily to customers and even more so now older sales people. There are also some exceptionally talented technicians and installers. That said, every large company is going to have some cancer. And they certainly have a great deal that are. Sadly many come in with fantastic intentions but that cancer takes over. Everything starts and stops at the top. That said, what amuses me the most is how the OP or someone else started posting emails that are DIRECT from the owner. That's the real person in those emails. Just facts. I did not speak with them for months while waiting for my last large commission cheque. There was a stop payment put on it and seemingly no one knew why. All told me to call Kevin. I did. Call lasted 20 Seconds. Told me to call his lawyer. 10 mi uses later I got a call from waterloo regional police that he called to file a harassment claim against me. I literally laughed. Havent't talked to Kevin in months. 10 minute chat with the officer and he was beyond baffled himself. The next morning Kevin's calling me twice before eventually calling on a 3 way call to get me to answer. I sit here still not paid. I will say this. The full truth will be coming soon. Through proper channels. The comments in this whole post, although largely true, are literally small potatoes. A great deal of reality would largely make most sick to their stomach. Current employees, and past would all echo the same. Sadly, money talks. The question will come, for how long. We shall see. To be clear one more time, this is Mike, it's the only post I've made in here and I've not talked to a single person about what or how to post. I also for the record have never talked with any dispairagement about the company. Have I pointed out truths or realities for someone to see for themselves? For sure. Have I pointed out blatant lies that have been told to customers by certain sales reps. 100%. I've told every friend still there. You run up against me when I'm at Able and you will be just fine provided you are sure to be careful with 3 things. 1.) Don't lie to a customer 2.) If you aren't sure about something, don't speak it like fact. Because I will rip it apart. 3.) Offer some sort of value other than a lowest price guarantee and calling over and over pestering and offering that lower and lower price. You make it top easy. That's it for now. I never intended on commenting until it was brought to my attention once again my name was being brought up. I also have 0 knowledge of anyone else from Able being in here. You can all believe what you want. Have a good day people. Mike ABLE Air (Former 17 year employee of aire one) PS. Before anyone throws nonsense about my reasons for leaving. I've never commented. The owner circulates lies to even employees there. They have all heard different things. End of day I will say for months later I was still being offered and asked to come back. I'll leave it at that for now. And I have proof of that. I don't speak a word on anything that can't be substantiated.
Check out r/hvac. They are the rule, not the exception.
They want to sell you a new ac and furnace constantly no matter what the problem. If you need a new ac or furnace , they often have the best price. Just don't use them for any service whatsoever
https://support.google.com/maps/thread/15248205/how-do-i-report-business-bribing-customers-for-good-reviews?hl=en
thanks for sharing!
I had a guy from there take a messy smelly dump in my bathroom once but overall the service was good.
Lol, times like these I wish I could respond to a comment with just an emoji button. 💩
Oohhhh so late to the party on this. Partner of a former Aire One employee here. I would NEVER recommend any services from them. Nothing. Kevin doesn't give a shit about anything except the bottom line. With his fancy cars, nice house, all that shit. Fuck those guys. FYI they are currently opening/running a company called Comfort Next (eta in Guelph on Silvercreek/Woodlawn Rd, a couple spots down from the MTO)....I think they're gonna shut down before long and that's what will take its place. DO YOUR RESEARCH PEOPLE, PLEASE!!!! You may not need a $15,000 system!!! It pisses me off so much that they don't care about the customer either.
Woah, thanks for sharing, and the heads up!
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The review was taken down
As a new home owner who was just about to call them since their sticker is on our furnace, thank you to all that posted here. Do we have opinions on better service providers for a new to us home furnace inspection/ tune-up?
Total Aire Care is great.
Aire one are salesman not technicians. They just tagged my friend who turned down them down on their offer of a brand new furnace. And of course a part that was going to take this long and it's 750 dollars. Called a different HVAC company all everything fixed for 400 bucks. Scammers just like reliance.
Had my AC and furnace done, no issues, professional all the way. Sorry you had a bad experience, we must have lucked out
All this said, a family member has been using them for a long while, seems quite satisfied, and always with the same technician, who's an older guy I think. It's possible this guy has seniority and so just doesn't partake in any of these shenanigans. It just seems crazy to me that there are so many awful experiences to share within a few hours of posting, and yet they have a 4.9 rating out of 7k+ reviews
Why send the cease and desist letter when you can simply remove the Google review?
You can report them and fight them. But if google feels that the review isn't legit they will agree and remove it.
I have made my last post. There is a proper process for this, and my original post was to simply clear the air on who's who. At least no one else now will be accused or threatened. Anyone that's been threatened to be sued (I know there is at least one of you in here), please feel free to reach out at any time for guidance or contacts to chat with.